Can I Please Just Ask You All Something?

[iluvstaffies1]

My obsessions are my mouth and my armpits. I must check my mouth 100 times a day and each time I do I find something to go into a panic about. I have the torch shining in my mouth so I can see better and always find something.

Anyway, what I wanted to ask was as I have this obsession with these areas of my body and I know that people do generally seem to obsess about a particular area of their body and that's it, but do you just stick to that area? For example then I read on here that a lot of people seem to be concerned about lymphnodes or brain tumours, whereas I never even think about those things, it's purely just my mouth and armpit......well at the moment anyway.

So does anyone out there who is obsessed, say, with their lymphnodes ever think about their mouth? Or vice versa? Just wondered.

[MandySlade]

I never used to have 1 particular area an I've had hypochondriasis since childhood. Over the last year though, I've had increasingly bad oral checking habits as well. I will get a mirror and check all my teeth with a book light. I obsess over certain spots of gum, how well a certain filling is holding up, etc. I check my mouth multiple times a day, every day. I also (you can see the thread) became obsessed about drinking habits, which is very focused. I did also go through a phase years ago where the obsession was my ovaries. But, even when I am focused on one area, I DO still get general worries about random symptoms.

[robin321]

Right now my focus is Lymph nodes, and like you suggested that is all my mind can focus on. But there are other things that stay in the back of my mind. But if an obsession is so strong, you cannot focus on anything else. That is the definition of an obsession.

I actually started recording how often I checked my neck and was surprised. It was way way more than I was even aware of. That helped me cut back

[iluvstaffies1]

Robin321 do you ever check your mouth like I do? Just wondering because like I say I never think about lymphnodes, just my mouth.

[robin321]

I do not check my mouth or anywhere else
the only time I have checked is to see if my tonsils look infected, so if that could effect the node. But I checked for 2 seconds

So if we could combine our non-checking we would be in great shape : )

[iluvstaffies1]

Yes we would! You see for some reason it makes me feel better to know that other people arent obsessed with checking thrir mouths because I then think to myself why should I be checking mine then as I have no real reason too. I am just the same as anyone else so why am I obsessed with my stupid mouth?

It all started for me because my uncle had tongue cancer a couple of years ago. Since then I have been obsessed. My mum told me every last detail about what had happened with my uncle, ftom diagnosis, to hospital visits to treatment. It has just done me in. My poor uncle went through all that and here is me carrying on like this. How selfish and stupid am I??

[Danii]

I obsess over my throat/lungs. Strangely enough never my mouth, and I'm never worried about cancer, I just worry that my throat or lungs are collapsing or swelling. I've bit my tongue pretty bad and not thought a thing of it, but the moment my throat hurts I'm checking it every minute.

I also never worry about brain tumors, or anything else, only my lungs. If I'm dizzy I never think its cause somethings wrong with my brain, its always "this must be cause my lungs are malfunctioning".

[happycarrot]

I've never had any particular obsession with my mouth, but that might be because I've never had any problems with teeth or gums at all, not even a cavity. I do get obsessive about my ovaries--I have PCOS and IBS, and I sometimes worry that the symptoms are really ovarian cancer. I also worry about a brain tumor because I have migraines with a pretty unusual aura, and I sometimes think that maybe it's not really a migraine. In both cases I had scans when the symptoms started--an abdominal ultrasound and a head MRI, and both were normal, but sometimes I still worry a little. I worry about other body parts too, but those worries come and go.

[justina]

I am not obsessed with areas, I am obsessed with cancer. All kinds of cancer. I know why, it started when my father died of cancer.
I suppose most of us have an "obsession", and then sometimes one can worry also about other things, but with less panic. Once I thought I had MS, I wasn't half as hysteric about that as I am about cancer.

[MaryMac]

I started checking my mouth last year when I got a bad tooth abcess. I was paranoid it was going to spread through my mouth then up to my brain etc, then when I had the tooth out, I was checking the gum to make sure it was healing and wasn't infected etc. Since then it's sort of become a habit, I get the torch on the back of my phone and honestly, I see things and worry about them that I wouldn't give a second thought because I wouldn't even know they were there! I had a tonsil stone a couple of months ago, if I hadn't have been exploring I wouldn't have known it was there. Of course I was freaked and went straight to the doctor, she told me it was nothing to worry about but now I have another one, and the tonsil seems like its a weird shape! Now I'm worried about tonsil cancer! ARGH.

[victor jara]

At moment I am obsessing over my jaw being weak , eating, speaking and chewing food. This is driving me crazy and makes me think I have a serious neuro disorder.

[purplehippo]

my obsession is cancer of any kind too,ive always worried about it and it was a big issue in my last relapse.
this time its my nan being diagnosed with it last year that sent me over the edge.
Ive got a sore throat at the moment so do check my mouth alot,but i have these issues everywhere brain tumours,bowel cancer,cervical cancer,pretty much all of them!